Cold Moon Rising
by BiteMarks
Summary: Supernatural danger threatens Mick's and Beth's safety on their first winter holiday together.
1. Chapter 1

**Cold Moon Rising**

**.**

**Part One**

**.**

A blood-curdling howl pierced the frigid evening air.

A fine spray of powder snow slewed out in a gentle arc as Mick pivoted both ankles sharply left and came to an abrupt halt. The hair on the back of his neck crackled. The werewolf was close, very close. What alarmed him most, however, wasn't the beast's proximity but its location. The spine-chilling howl only now beginning to fade from the still night air had come from a thickly wooded stand of trees somewhere to the rear of him, much higher up on the mountain.

How could that be? How could the beast have possibly doubled back? The pulsing trail of body heat he'd been following was still clearly visible heading down the slope ahead and he'd detected no change of direction in the traces of it's odour blowing from down wind.

He cursed. It was unthinkable, but no other explanation was possible. Two werewolves were on the hunt tonight!

The howl sounded again, only this time the cry was thin and high, a sure sign that the thing was moving back up the mountain and away from him, fast.

_Beth! _

Damn it! He'd left her alone at the cabin, told her that she was safe, that it was a well-known fact in his world that werewolves were solitary predators, and only ever hunted alone.

By the time he and Beth had found it's mangled victim, a lone winter camper with just a bed roll and backpack to protect him from the elements, the heavy trail of body heat the beast had left had been heading down and away from them toward the thickly wooded forest at the bottom of the mountain. He'd had to think fast. He needed to track the beast so he could prevent any further deaths and possibly discover it's human identity. Although the stench was so strong that he could hardly smell a thing past the cloying reek of werewolf, he knew that if he didn't leave immediately, the telltale traces of it's heat and odour would dissipate in the cold mountain breezes, leaving the creature a free hand to kill again. He'd never dreamt that Beth would be at risk if he left. Oh, he'd ordered her to lock the doors and windows, but that had only been meant to reassure her. He knew there was no real danger.

He had to let her know. He patted his pocket, then cursed as he realised that they'd both taken off so so quickly, that neither of them had thought to bring a mobile phone.

_Oh God, if anything happened to Beth… _

Mick cursed again, a fine sheen of sweat popping out along his brow. He hated having to leave the other werewolf free to roam tonight, but his priority was clear. He glanced back up the slope he'd just descended. Not even vampires could move quickly in five feet of fine powder snow and the chalet where he'd left her was half a mile straight back up a double black diamond run. There was no other solution, the quickest way to get back was to ski to the end of the slope and take the chairlift back to the home run.

Mick shoved off with a determined flex of his knees and bent low over his skis, counting the seconds as he sped down the mountain and away from both Beth and the nightmare heading directly toward her.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Half a mile further down within the deep black shadows of the forest, a pair of blazing red eyes tracked his progress. A shadow, impenetrable and incongruously dense, separated itself from the tree line and followed with surprising grace along the twin tracks left by Mick's skis.

Beth shivered. She didn't care how safe Mick said she'd be. She was scared.

She seen a lot of things in her time, but the sight of the savaged remains of the man had frightened her in a deeply visceral way. The man, clearly a cross-country skier who'd been camping in the forest behind them, had literally been peeled open from stern to hip, the bright red of the arterial sprays almost beautiful against the stark white crystals of the snow. Even knowing about vampires she would have doubted the existence of werewolves had she not witnessed for herself paw prints as large as dinner plates surrounding the corpse. The poor man! She would never forget the look of pure horror on his face. She hadn't asked and Mick hadn't said, but she'd known just the same.

The man had still been alive when the beast had begun to feed.

At first Beth had thought the scream that had roused them from a light doze was from an owl or one of the other nocturnal birds that inhabited the woods surrounding their cabin, but Mick had been on his feet in an instant, tugging on his ski pants, his face a mask of bland indifference, a sure sign that he was deeply concerned and trying not to show it. She knew for certain that something was wrong when he snapped at her more harshly than he had ever spoken to her when she rose and made to join him.

If only she'd done as he asked and remained behind.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Mick sped down the slope, pushing off with each stock as he powered through each turn. He gritted his teeth as he passed the scent of the beast he'd been tracking, noting that it had entered the wooded glade to his left. It was somehow stronger here, an anomaly that would have caught his attention had his other need not been as pressing.

He must be close, he had to be close, but he couldn't hear the telltale clanking of the chairlift, knew that the sound of its operation should carry in the cold night air. It should be around the next bend.

Mick hunkered down and doubled his speed.

It wouldn't occur to him until too late, that the reason the scent had been more dense in that location was that the beast he had been tracking had in fact doubled back and would now be hunting him.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Beth had waited with the body while the ski patrol loaded the poor man into an ambulance and drove away. Turning back, she could see their cabin lights from the fringes of the forest where she stood, just inches away from the bloodied snow. She had shivered with horror as she surveyed the scene, noticing for the first time the victim's backpack, half buried under a reddened mound of the icy stuff. She hooked it out, slinging it over her shoulder. The authorities would no doubt need the contents to identify the deceased.

In the safety of the locked and bolted cabin, Beth's natural curiosity reasserted itself, and she unzipped the backpack gingerly, taking care not to touch any of the metal surfaces with her bare hands. One fewer set of prints for them to worry about, she thought. To her surprise, no wallet or any other form of identification were amongst the man's meagre belongings. The only things inside were a one litre metal thermos, a crumpled white silk shirt and an odd looking implement that resembled a compact crossbow. Several darts clinked together loosely in the bottom of the pack. The man was a hunter. No wonder he travelled so light and hadn't lit a campfire. She wasn't sure what the law was about hunting in these woods, but his gear was suspicious enough to make her think that perhaps his actions hadn't been entirely legal. She packed his few belongings away, the scent of the aftershave still lingering on his shirt. The whiff of cologne was strangely soothing, and for a moment she had a vision of the last moments of the lovely Christmas the man must have had with the people who loved him. Then she saw his face again, streaked with blood and snow, and her chest tightened with fear.

I need to calm down, Beth thought, stop getting so wound up about this. I'm perfectly safe. I'm just scaring myself. Mick said everything will be fine, so everything will be fine.

She straightened her spine, held her chin up, did what she always did when she was afraid but too courageous to show it. She forced herself away from the backpack and it's contents and headed toward the kitchen.

If ever there were a decent time for comfort food, this would surely be it.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

A pair of red eyes blinked from out of the darkness. They shifted left to right as they followed the woman outlined in the window, watching as she twisted a tap, filled a kettle with some water. As an apex predator, the beast's mind was a work of perfection. Within a heartbeat it had noted the easiest access points into the cabin, the fact that the woman was alone, the deliciousness of her fear….

With a grunt it shifted off its haunches, it's massive shoulders brushing aside snow-laden branches as it moved toward the golden light streaming from above the cabin's door.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two**

**.**

_What was that?_

Beth's head jerked up and water spattered over the rounded sides of the kettle and drenched her hands and the front of her woollen pullover. She was sure she'd heard something out there.

She peered out the window, her nose almost pressing against the glass. The scene outside was postcard beautiful: a full moon illuminated the silvery blanket of snow covering the forest and giving the panorama the sweetness of a fairytale.

_Hmmph_, Beth thought, what happened to that camper out there was no fairy tale.

She scanned the vista again, satisfied that the only thing moving out there was the wind in the branches. As she lowered her eyes to the tap once more, she failed to notice the one shadow moving opposite to the breeze, the one advancing in small, stealthy increments along the side of the chalet and inching steadily toward the locked and bolted front door.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

Mick rounded the last turn and shielded his eyes from the bright lights shining from the poles surrounding the chair lift. God in heaven! The slope was deserted, empty lift chairs already beginning to ice over as they swayed on the cable heading up the mountain above.

The chair lift had been locked down for the night. Mick plunged into despair. There was no possible way he could get to Beth in time now!

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

One of the timber steps outside creaked.

Beth's heart stopped. She held her breath, hoping the sound wouldn't be repeated. After all, lumber swelled and shrank according to the weather conditions, didn't it? No need to panic. It really could be just as simple as that. Another of the steps groaned, and then another.

Beth's blood ran cold. All of a sudden the sturdy and luxurious log cabin felt like the house of sticks in The Three Little Pigs and someone or some_thing_ was out there climbing each of the steps that lead right up to the cabin's front door.

_Bang! Bang! Bang! _

Oh, God! And that something had just begun to pound violently against the cabin's thick, wooden door.

.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

Mick's head jerked around as a dull metallic thunk sounded from behind him. Fifty metres away an old man stepped down from the Toyota Land Cruiser parked adjacent to the tiny staff cabin that provided amenities for the lift operator. He began to tie down the tarpaulin on the trailer attached behind.

"Hey," Mick yelled, "Hey."

The old man tightened the last of the loose cords, waved and climbed back up into the cruiser's cabin. The engine started and as he pulled away the trailer swung into line behind the truck. At that moment, a shadow detached itself from the darkened forest, swiped a razored claw against the side of the trailer and slid with unusual grace into the woodpile beneath the now loose tarpaulin.

The truck pulled up beside him.

"You alright, there buddy? Lift's closed for the night. Wherever you're from, you'd better come with me."

Mick sighed with relief and pushed on the release at the back of his skis. Even the few seconds it took to remove his skis and lay them on the back seat of the Land Cruiser filled him with dread.

By his reckoning, the beast must already be at Beth's door.

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*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

Beth started to shake, fear paralysing her so completely that she couldn't even open her mouth to scream. _What was she to do?_ Mick had said she was totally safe but then again, he'd also forbidden her to open the door to anyone but him.

_Where was he? _

If that was the werewolf out there, then, what had happened to Mick? And if Mick was incapacitated then…. Then that meant she was on her own. It was the thought she needed to galvanise herself into action.

She ran to the camper's backpack, grabbed a handful of metal darts and loaded the contraption with shaking hands.

The pounding stopped and there was a brief, terrifying moment of silence. Then a woman's voice called, "Let me in!"

Beth had a horrible moment of panic, all those horror movies she'd loved as a teenager coming back to whisper in her ear that the thing out there was an imposter and this just a deadly trick meant to make her let it in.

The voice called out again, "Come on, it's me, Simone. Let me in, it's freezing out here."

No! Beth shook her head. That was no werewolf. It definitely sounded like Simone, and her own lilly-livered dithering in here was wasting precious time. Simone would have no idea of the danger she was in. She was out there all alone and the front stoop had been lit up like a landing strip since Mick had left.

Beth's fingers flexed and adrenaline began to pour through her system. She lay the mini cross-bow down, sprinted to the door and pulled back the bolts with trembling hands.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

The werewolf watched from the shadows as a car pulled up beside the cabin and a female creature stepped out, pulling her jacket close around her. A sharp pang of hunger rumbled deep within its belly despite it already having fed a little earlier. The woman would have to pass close by its position in the shadows beside the porch and it crouched down, readying itself to leap. Her scent wafted to it on the breeze and it shook its head, as if a cloud of gnats were worrying at it. Something in its head hurt.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

They'd been making such good time up the winding mountain road that Mick rested his head against the seat for a moment. A vision of the day before he and Beth had left L.A. swam to mind.

"_Merry Christmas, Mick," Josef said._

_Mick glanced at the set of keys in his palm. "Are you sure? I mean, the place… the time… This has always been kind of special, hasn't it? What do you call it? Your' annual retreat of solitude and spiritual renewal'?"_

_The height of Mick's eyebrows let Josef know exactly what he thought of that._

"_Could something that pompous really have come from me?," Josef said with a grin. "Just enjoy it. Besides, this is the worst time of year to be on the mountain. All those families, the children -," he made a sound of repugnance. "Those snack packs on snowboards get more dangerous every year." _

"_So, who is she?," Mick asked, his eyebrow raised sceptically._

"_I'm hurt that you'd question my generosity this way, Mick."_

_Mick raised both eyebrows._

_Josef's sigh sounded a little piqued. "A very old and very dear friend, if you must know."_

"_One with 'benefits', no doubt."_

_Josef shrugged. "There is that."_

"_Okay, Josef. Just don't let Beth find out. She kind of likes Simone."_

"_Simone. Yes. It would be best if she didn't know about this little extra-curricular interlude. Should we pinky swear?"_

_Mick snorted. He closed his fingers around the keys to Josef's mountain cabin and whistled as he walked out of the older vampire's office, imagining the surprise and excitement on Beth's face as he whisked her away for their first Christmas holiday together - a holiday they'd never forget._

It was a holiday they'd never forget all right. Mick jolted back to the present with a bump.

"Whoa - ." The old man stepped on the brake and the cruiser slid sideways for a second before coming to a halt. "What's going on here?"

Ahead of them, the road was bathed in an eerie, undulating red glow, as if the entire area was soaked in blood. An ambulance had slewed across the road at an awkward angle, its light still flashing. All of its doors were wide open.

The ambulance was empty.

Mick stared at the vehicle with a worried frown. The only ambulance on the mountain that night had been the one he and Beth had alerted, the one that had removed the werewolf's victim from the woods behind their cabin.

"Stay here," Mick said to the old man.

He slid out of the car and headed toward the ambulance, his ski boots crunching loudly against the ice in the still night air. The smell of blood assaulted his nostrils as soon as he was within reach of the vehicle, but no blood was anywhere to be seen on the road or on the leather upholstery. He craned his neck searching for the mutilated body he knew must be strapped somewhere in the back.

The body was gone, but in its place were the sharp, febrile tang of a vampire in distress and the heavy, musky stench of a newly turned werewolf.

The savaged camper had been a vampire! That explained the lack of camping equipment.

The heavy, werewolf stench at the site of the attack had obviously masked the scent and the victim's lack of heartbeat had only served to confirm his 'death'. But - ? Mick had never heard of a vampire being attacked by a werewolf before. The two peak predators tended to avoid one another whenever possible. Could a vampire also be a werewolf? Mick glanced around at the empty ambulance once more, noting the significance of the lack of both ambulance officers and the lack of blood. On balance, he'd guess that it was possible. He supposed that if mauled, a vampire's rapid metabolism could not only heal the wounds, but would also mean that no incubation period was necessary for the werewolf infection to take hold. A bitten vampire would turn almost immediately. It would mean that the dead camper and the second werewolf on the mountain were one and the same, and that meant…

That meant that the beast coming for Beth was a savage and unpredictable hybrid!

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

Beth took a deep breath and flung the door wide. A slender woman in sleek winter jacket turned and looked her up and down.

"Simone!"

"Beth?"

Beth pulled the other girl inside and bolted the door.

Simone did not look pleased. "What are you doing here?," she asked rudely. "Where's Josef?"

"How close is your car?," Beth panted, going from window to window, peering out into the darkness. She didn't care what Mick said; she was well and truly spooked. Every instinct was screaming at her to get off this mountain, but she couldn't. Mick was still out there. At least she might be able to get Simone to safety.

"What do you mean? Where the hell is Josef?" Simone's eyes darted angrily around the living room.

"Your car," Beth insisted, "where is it?"

"Right outside," Simone said, sounding as cross as she looked. A confused frown crossed her face when she saw the cross-bow and she put her hand on the victim's backpack. "Josef doesn't hunt. And since when does Josef camp? Who else is here?"

If the situation had not been so serious, Beth would have laughed. Simone looked so suspicious it was clear that she thought Beth must be having an illicit affair, either with Josef or some other mystery man.

"I'll explain in a second," Beth said, nodding in the direction of the poor mans luggage, "As for Josef, apparently he's in Switzerland on business. He said Mick and I could use the cabin seeing as he was going to be gone for a while."

Simone's mouth set into a thin, ugly line. "He told me he was coming up here to be alone. He comes here to be alone every Christmas. _Not you, not anyone, Simone_, he said. Total solitude, he said. The only time his soul had to breathe, yada, yada, yada."

"That's our Mr Lucky," Beth said with grim humour. Simone looked confused. It was time Beth told her. "The one year he didn't come is the one year he missed the Christmas surprise. There's a werewolf on the loose out there."

A brief look of fury crossed Simone's features. "Bastard," she said, then added,"that is so typical." And then her face crumpled.

As if on cue, a deep, throaty howl sounded from right outside the window.

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.*.*.*.*.*.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Part Three**

**.**

The howl sounded reedy in the thin mountain air. It was close and it had definitely come from the vicinity of the cabin.

_He needed to get to Beth immediately. _

Making sure the old man couldn't see him, he put his shoulder to the rear panel of the ambulance and pushed. The big vehicle slid easily across the icy surface of the road. In seconds he'd made enough room for the Land Cruiser to drive past. When he returned his face was grim.

"Take the ambulance back to base and don't stop for anyone," he said. "I'll return the Cruiser in the morning."

He didn't wait for the old man's reply, just watched as he exited the vehicle open-mouthed and slammed the door closed. Mick crunched the truck into first gear.

As the truck and trailer sailed past him, the old man scratched his head. He was sure he'd tied that tarpaulin down good and tight. The loose tarpaulin flapped in the breeze and as it did, his breath caught in his throat. From out of the darkness underneath, a baleful pair of red eyes shone out at him with malevolent fury, and faded away with the taillights as they receded in the distance.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

Both women screamed and backed away from the window. The window frame began to shake and then to split with deep and terrible scratches.

"I'll get a knife," Beth yelled over her shoulder and began to run toward the kitchen. "Get to the master bedroom room and get ready to lock the door."

"No, not there!," screamed a terrified Simone. She dug frantically into her handbag. "The downstairs bathroom would be safer."

The beast was snarling, the tips of its terrible claws visible through the rents it had left in the wood beside the glass. The side of the cabin seemed to bow beneath the fury of the attack. Beth ran back into the living room, a large carving knife shaking in her hand.

Before either woman could move, the beast tore the window right out of its frame and launched itself through the gaping hole and into the room between them.

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_.*.*.*.*.*.*.*._

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_Not far now. Not far now._

The three words kept repeating in Mick's mind as he pushed the pedal almost through the floor, swerving dangerously around each bend in the road. Only his superior vampire night vision and dexterity were keeping him from hurtling over the precipice beside him. So focussed was he on the road ahead that almost didn't notice the flicker of movement from behind. When he glanced into the rear view mirror, the only thing he could see was the werewolf's ferocious muzzle pressed up against the glass at the back of the truck.

"_What the - ?"_

A razor-tipped paw smashed through the truck's rear window.

Mick braked. He heard the back window smash and the beast's body hurtled against the front seats, knocking him violently against the console. The thing was huge, the size of a grizzly, and up close the stench of it made his eyes water. Its shoulders scraped the truck's ceiling, forcing its paws under its wrists. Its muzzle was jammed between against the two front seats, and even as Mick looked on, its jaw began to shake from side to side, then began to snarl viciously and snap at Mick's elbow and forearm.

Mick leapt out of the cabin and slammed the door shut. He looked around desperately. There had to be something out here he could use as a weapon! That thing wouldn't stay caged for long. Even as the thought crossed his mind, the truck began to shudder, the beast inside convulsing in a snarling, scratching frenzy. One paw punched through the rear passenger door, its two-inch claws clicking shut onto fresh air where Mick had stood only a second before.

It wasn't often that Mick felt afraid, but he could feel a creeping terror coming over him. Not only for Beth, and for the danger she was facing at the hybrid's hands, but this time also for himself. If he were to be bitten even once…

The beast yelped as its arm caught on the jagged edges of the hole as it tried to withdraw its paw back into the vehicle for a second lunge at Mick. The Land Cruiser juddered as the beast renewed its furious struggle to escape the vehicle and slid two feet forward, almost forcing Mick over the edge of the road and down into the abyss below.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

He skirted the truck, the back of his neck prickling as the awful red eyes followed his movement from the truck's interior, and put his shoulder against the rear pillar. If he could move the ambulance on the icy road, maybe he could encourage this truck over the edge. He braced his feet; his shoulders bunched and he put his weight behind the vehicle and pushed.

The Land Cruiser didn't move.

The werewolf must weigh a ton! The truck began to shake madly as the beast tore the inside of the car apart to turn itself into a position to get at him. Mick pushed again, his feet sliding a little on the icy road. Every time the beast inside moved, the truck lightened for a moment, slid a little. Mick waited until the beast moved again, then pushed.

The truck skittered to the edge of the road, its tyres only an inch or two from the edge.

Mick's face was hit by flying glass as the window closest to him smashed and a great, hairy forearm reached out, dark yellow ridges clearly visible on each of its curved claws.

Mick threw himself to the ground, the beast's arm swiping back and forth uselessly above him. He braced himself and put both feet against the wheel and waited for the beast to move again. With a sharp metallic sound, the werewolf's arm punched through the Cruiser's roof and began to peel it back, one screeching inch at a time. The vehicle rocked as the beast's head emerged and with a final, desperate push, Mick sent the vehicle careening over the edge where it rolled and disappeared into the inky dark of the mountain below.

Mick collapsed with his hands on his knees; his thighs shaking from the effort. Terrified screams sounded sharply from somewhere close.

He straightened and started up the road at a sprint.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

Beth and Simone scattered.

The beast crouched in the room between them, its chest heaving. It seemed a little more than man-sized; dark, wiry, hair covered its body sparsely over grey, dead-looking skin. In her terror Beth was reminded of the furless dogs and cats whose pictures sometimes made the papers as the ugliest pet on record. Its red eyes flicked from Beth to Simone and back again and its bones crackled as it stood. It tipped its head and in a curiously human gesture, it frowned and lifted its muzzle to scent the air. Before either she or Simone could react, it had bounded up the stairs, and a snarling, snapping fury erupted from the master bedroom.

Seeing their chance, Beth began to run toward the front door. "Come on Simone," she panted. "We're getting out of here. We can make it to the car and drive down the mountain."

"You're half right," said Simone sounding curiously calm.

"What do you mean?" said Beth, looking over her shoulder with a frown.

"Only one of us is leaving."

"Wha- what?"

Simone was holding a deadly, little pistol and it was aimed right at the centre of Beth's heart. She opened the victim's backpack and pulled out the silk shirt and threw it at Beth. "Put that on."

"What are you doing?" Beth said desperately. "That thing's not going to be preoccupied for ever." Even though the beast still raged overhead, she knew it would only be a matter of time before it came for them.

"I know," Simone said coolly. "Just shut up and put it on." And then she pulled the trigger.

Beth felt a hot sting against her upper arm. She clapped a hand over the area and when she pulled it away there was blood on her palm.

"Just making doubly sure," said Simone enigmatically. She waved the pistol in an unmistakeable gesture for Beth to hurry up.

Beth pulled the shirt over her head, her nose filling with the scent of cologne. Familiar cologne. "Hey, this is Josef's shirt!"

"Yes and this is Josef's cabin," Simone sneered, her eyes darting upstairs toward the master bedroom.

A light began to dawn behind Beth's eyes and when she spoke it was her voice that was full of suspicion now. "What – ? What are you doing here, Simone? You said Josef told you not to come here." A look of horror crossed Beth's features. Josef's scent must be everywhere, but it would be strongest in the master bedroom. "You knew," she accused, "That … that thing -. It's here for Josef isn't it?"

Simone smiled a grim little smile. Keeping one eye on Beth, she reached into her handbag and pulled out a cigarette lighter. Neither woman registered the silence from above, nor the re-emergence of the beast crouched over the head of the stairwell.

"He was supposed to be here alone," Simone said, her fury at Josef's absence showing itself a second time that night. It all would have been so easy." She held the lighter to the living room curtains. "I'm sorry, Beth," she said. "I just can't afford for Mick to know that I was here."

Smoke began to rise in a lazy curl.

"You.. you can't stop me leaving," Beth said, determination sounding in her voice even though her teeth were chattering.

"Maybe I can't," said Simone, "but _it _certainly can."

The beast was creeping down the stairs, snarling softly and its red eyes were blazing unwaveringly at Beth and at the white silk shirt she was wearing.

"Hasta la vista, Beth," Simone said. "See you on the other side." She smiled. "But not anytime soon."

Beth heard Simone's footsteps echo against the floorboards as she tore out of the cabin, then a car engine start. She coughed. Both curtains were alight and fire was licking at the ceiling.

With a growl the beast leapt at her from the bottom stair.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

Mick sprinted around a bend in the road. A pair of yellow lights swept the curve ahead and a car raced toward him from the opposite direction. His heart leapt.

_Maybe it was Beth_.

He stood in the middle of the road smiling in anticipation and raised a hand to shield his eyes from the glare. But the car didn't slow.

All he saw as he sailed over the bonnet, bumped against the roof and then onto the roadway beyond, were a pair of female eyes fringed by a fur-trimmed hood.

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

.

Simone peered at the body laying on the road in the rear-view mirror and flipped open her phone with a shaking hand.

"You sent a werewolf? _A werewolf?_ You ruined everything," she yelled. "I don't care if you wanted a back up plan. My man had everything in control. It would have been neat. Tidy. And no one would have known. Just in and out with a silver cross-bow and no more Josef Kostan." Simone shook with rage and took another breath. "Well let me tell you - not only is Josef Kostan is still alive and kicking, but his best friend's woman is barbeque wolf chow by now. The mess we've left... Tomorrow he'll be out there and turning over rocks the size of a hydrogen atom to find out who did this."

There was a silence at the other end of the line and then a cool voice said, "Is your cover blown?"

She thought about her last sight of her vampire/werewolf assassin as it came down the stairs toward a bleeding Beth in the escalating inferno. She blew out a breath. "No."

"Good. Then you're still in the game. As far as he knows you're pining away for him in L.A. Make sure he believes it."

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.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

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	4. Chapter 4

.

Mick groaned and got to his feet, seeing the taillights retreating around a bend. How he felt wasn't important right now. He still had to get to Beth. He began to run. Not even Mick's vampire agility could prevent his rigid, plastic ski boots from skidding on the road's frosty surface. Only one more burst of speed, and he'd be around the next bend and able to head straight onward to the cabin.

An orange glow flared behind the tree line. He cursed. The only possible thing aflame in that vicinity was Josef's cabin. Beth's only choices would be to stay inside like he'd told her and risk a fiery death, or to venture outside to where the beast was surely waiting for her.

He doubled his speed and began to pray.

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*~*~*~*~*~*!

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Beth screamed and ran as the beast's powerful hind legs launched the creature in her direction.

Fire crackled from every corner of the room and licked at the ceiling above her. The thick, black smoke billowing outward in a roiling mass and threatening to choke her was the least of her concerns. She cringed, expecting to feel talons ripping her unprotected back and neck, but didn't stop, moving as fast as she out of the werewolf's reach. A glint of silver caught her eye as she dashed by and without thinking she collected the little crossbow loaded with darts and clung to it with an iron grip.

Floorboards buckled beneath her feet and she screamed again as a blast of rank, fetid breath enveloped her. The thing must be right on top of her.

_Oh God, she was going to be eaten alive!_

_._

*~*~*~*~*~*!

.

Mick's throat tightened.

Josef's cabin was dead ahead and it was engulfed in flames. He looked around desperately, hoping that Beth would step forward from the tree line nearby. Nothing. He couldn't afford to wait. He was going to have to go in after her. Although he didn't think it would make much difference, he dropped to the ground anyway and rolled, covering himself in the melting snow surrounding the building.

_Please God, don't let Beth be hurt inside._

As he bounded onto the porch, a terrified scream sounded from within.

.

.

Several things happened at once.

Falling as she turned, Beth aimed the crossbow beneath the beast's outstretched arm and fired one of the darts toward it just as a blast of freezing air gushed into the room. Through the fire and smoke, Beth watched as Mick rushed toward the beast from the cabin's entrance.

As if in slow motion, Beth saw the tiny arrow arc toward the werewolf and bury itself deep with the thing's sparsely covered belly just as Mick's desperate hands closed around its jaws, jerking it's head savagely to one side.

With a loud, wet crack, the werewolf/vampire hybrid fell to the ground. Without thinking, Beth fired a silver dart, then another directly into the centre of the wretched creature's chest.

The thing began to writhe. Groaning as if in agony, the coarse grey hair, jaws and talons shrunk back into its body in exactly the way that horror movies had always portrayed. Finally all that was left was a naked vampire, a once handsome, well built male, his silver eyes fading, his fangs retracting back into his greyish gums.

The dying vampire looked first at Beth, then at Mick and over the roar of the fire they both clearly heard him say, "You… you're not Josef Kostan." Then his body stilled and blackened and burned as fire began to envelop him.

"Beth!"

"Mick!"

Grabbing her hand, Mick pulled Beth toward the door. With a loud whoosh, the burning lintel crashed to the floor, blocking both the doorway and the living room windows.

"Come on," Mick shouted.

They ran toward the kitchen. The room was ablaze and Beth began to cough, doubling over from the effects of the heat and the smoke. Embers flew all around them, several settling onto Mick's arms and shoulders. Having just seen the ease with which the other vampire shrivelled and burned, Beth beat them out with a desperate fury.

"Get out of here, Mick. Leave me," she said, her eyes streaming. "Please."

He didn't bother to reply, his head jerking left then right in an attempt to plot an escape route through the raging inferno.

A loud crack sounded from above. They looked up. Mick pulled Beth close and wrapped his body around her.

"I love you," he said.

With the grinding noise of a mountain shifting on its axis, the ceiling buckled and then came down on top of them in a searing, ball of flame.

.

*~*~*~*~*~*!

.

_Four days later_

_._

"They told me I could find you here," she said, and rested a consoling hand on the shoulder of his coal black Givenchy suit.

Until a moment ago the chapel had been empty but for Josef and the two coffins lying in state before the altar.

He didn't answer her, didn't make a sound, merely closed his eyes with such a profound expression of sorrow on his face that she might have wept herself but for the fact that Mick's and Beth's deaths ensured her own continued survival and another chance for her secret mission to succeed.

"He told me once he'd been raised a Catholic," Josef said as if to no one, staring straight ahead at the expensive caskets. "I thought maybe if he had a traditional funeral, he… he might rest a little easier. He… ". A choking sound cut off his next remark and he dropped his head into his hands. "They're being buried. I couldn't bear the thought of them being cremated after…"

His shoulders began to shake. Simone knelt down and gathered him to her.

"Josef, Josef, I'm so sorry."

She cradled him in her arms and kissed the top of his head, all the while crooning comforting little nonsenses into his hair. She had been sorry to hear that Mick had died along with Beth in the fire she had started at the cabin. She had genuinely liked Josef's best friend.

Josef sat up, easing himself away from her. "This wasn't supposed to happen, Simone." His voice sounded angry. "This wasn't supposed to _happen_, dammit!"

"What did happen?," she asked carefully.

Josef shook his head in utter disbelief. "They said a spark from a log in the fireplace caused the blaze. They said the two of them were trapped by its ferocity. I just.. I just don't understand why they didn't get out. Why didn't they get out, Simone?"

Her heart stopped for a second. Was that a trick question? Did he know? His upturned face displayed such bewilderment she dismissed the notion immediately, putting the tiny doubt in her mind down to the simplicity of guilt.

"I don't know, Darling," she said, standing up and stepping a little closer to the coffins.

She was relieved to see that despite news of the manner of their deaths, Josef had ordered open caskets prior to the funeral. Although her plan to dispose of Beth had clearly worked, a gnawing anxiety wouldn't be stilled. She needed to be certain. She composed her face into a careful semblance of grief and glanced inside the first coffin.

It was Mick.

He was dressed in a grey suit and tie he never would have allowed Josef to outfit him in had he still been living and was lying so very still that the truth of his death was obvious. Although his handsome face was mostly intact, marred only by a terrible, red burn to one side of his face, his hands and what was visible of his forearms were charred and twisted stumps. A faint hint of smoke emanated from his body. With a gulp she stepped back, suddenly unwilling to look onto the horror of what must be left of Beth's human remains.

"You've been here twenty four hours straight now, Josef. Let me take you away from here," she said, her voice shaking.

"The funerals are tomorrow."

"Just for a little bit then," she wheedled, anxious to be anywhere but here. "Come on. I've planned a little something special for you."

His lips twisted. "You have?"

She nodded and gave him the sort of smile that indicated he was going to enjoy the little something extra on the menu.

.

*~*~*~*~*~*!

.

He was silent as the Ferrari purred around the curves of the Hollywood hills close to his home. The journey was slow, much slower than it would have been at his usual cruising speed, and she gazed at his profile with curiosity. His face was blank, as if he were in the midst of deep contemplation and he never took his eyes off the road.

Finally he turned the wheel and the car pulled into his driveway. Heavy iron gates rattled closed behind them.

The silence between them had been so profound she almost gasped when he said in a voice so like his usual confident self she could have believed that nothing was wrong, "See up there? That's a cold moon rising."

Two tiny lines deepened between her brows. "A what -?"

"A cold moon," Josef said. "A phrase those cursed by lycanthropy use to describe any phase of the moon that doesn't heat their blood, bring on the change." He turned and looked her full in the face, his own so cold in the silvery light of the waning moon her blood froze within her veins.

_He couldn't possibly know. The cabin and its contents had been completely consumed by fire and Mick and Beth were dead, she'd seen them herself just now._

The sleek metal door of his underground garage began to rise, and there in the harsh, orange glow of the halogen lighting stood Mick and Beth.

Josef's fingers crushed her wrist the moment her fingers curled under the passenger side door handle.

"You're surely not leaving so soon, Simone? Not when I've gone to the trouble of having something special planned for you, too."

He opened her door like a gentlemen, but didn't let go of her arm.

She gaped at Mick in shock. "You're dead, I saw you. Your hands…" Her face twisted in revulsion at the memory of his destroyed forearms.

Mick reached into his pocket and threw the stump of a blackened hand onto the paving in front of her. "Makeup. Prostheses," he said.

"Simone, Simone, Simone," said Josef, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "Have you forgotten where I live? The special effects director for Twenty-first Century Fox lives next door." He looked a little smug. "The effects really were quite convincing, weren't they?"

"I thought the acting was a little cheesy," said Mick.

"It was easy for you," Josef parried. "You just had to lie there and look natural."

Simone looked from one man to the other, then over shoulder. There must be some way she could get out of this. She looked in desperation toward her former friend.

"Beth - ?"

Beth strode forward and slapped her across the face. Hard. The two men raised their eyebrows and stepped back a little.

"That was for me." Beth slapped her again. "And that was for putting Mick in danger. If it weren't for Josef's wine cellar, we both would have been dead by now."

Mick reached out and pulled Beth back into the crook of his arm.

"So what was the deal, Simone?" he asked calmly. "You hire an assassin to take Josef out at the only time of the year he's alone and incommunicado. Only something went wrong. Your assassin gets killed by a werewolf, changes himself, but like the consummate professional he is, sticks to the job he's been hired to do. It's why you made Beth put on the shirt." His jaw clenched in anger for the first time and he pulled the sooty silk shirt from the depths of his jacket and threw that at her feet as well. "You didn't want to leave anything to chance, making damn sure the assassin had both sight and scent recognition of the target. But you didn't count on something. I'm guessing there's no way you would have put yourself in danger by going to Josef's cabin if you knew a werewolf was on the loose."

She was dead. Josef would surely rip her throat out and bury her in the deepest pit he could find.

"But there was something fishy about that too," Beth said, speaking at last. "Mick tells me that a werewolf will go out of its way to avoid a vampire. Only this one didn't. This one went straight for the only vampire there was out in the open. The only vampire carrying a personal item belonging to Josef Kostan, that is."

Josef's eyebrows rose. Not even he had put those two particular integers together. Mick looked at Josef. "We think it had been specially trained to attack you, friend. Unlikely I know, but - pissed off anyone powerful lately?"

Josef smiled, "I've got all the time in the world to find out." His eyes softened a little as he looked at Simone. "And as for you, was it just the money or something a little more... personal?"

Simone's eyes glittered. "Not only the powerful people you hurt can be dangerous, Josef."

"Something personal then. Was she a friend or a family member?"

Simone looked away. Josef's eye caught Mick's. "What to do with her afterward?"

Both men looked at Beth. She'd made Josef make a promise once. Her mouth set in a grim line.

"You're vampires. Figure it out."

"No. No, Beth. No," Simone pleaded. "_Noooo_!"

Mick and Beth huddled together and walked out of the garage and into the night without ever once glancing at Simone as they passed. Her scream cut off abruptly as the metal door swung shut behind them.

.

*~*~*~*~*~*!

.

Mick drew back from the kiss with obvious reluctance. "I am so, so, sorry," he began, "I never wanted you to be sullied by exposure to the vampire world, by stuff like this."

"Hush, Mick. We've been over that," Beth said, drawing his lips to hers a second time. "I'm a vampire's mate. I'm beginning to understand what that means and just how - strong - I can be."

She didn't mean strong, she meant ruthless. The innocent little girl he'd loved was gone. Even as a part of him mourned, a small, unacknowledged part exulted in her ferocity. He nodded. "Josef's offered us his guest house in the Bahamas as an apology," he said.

Her eyes widened and she kept shaking her head and smiling as the both of them fell back onto the sofa in a long embrace.

In the still of the night, long after Beth had fallen asleep, Mick lay there listening to her breathe, and thinking.

.

*~*~*~*~*~*!


End file.
